The Beasts Within
by smileyjill2002
Summary: This is a fight between the fox and fire demon.  They've set aside their friendship for this battle against each other.  There's no real reason for the fight, except they're demons and are born for this.


Out in a vast canyon, with a forest of trees covering the valley floor, two pillars of rock stand high, close to one thousand feet, anchor in the center of the canyon.

Upon one pillar sits the fox demon. He sits poised, dressed in a white sleeveless shirt, white pants and shoes. Calmly, yet sternly, he gazes out, snorting in the air, with his nose twitching in anticipation. Clouds of his silver aura drift around him, as he glances at his opponent on the second pillar.

The enemy he faces shrouds himself in black. His outfit, shoes, and everything reflects the dark serpentine aura. The clouds reveal a dragon's snout ready to strike. The fire demon cloaked in the dragon's cloud and smell, glares back at the fox. Once considered allies, they now face each other as opponents.

The air throughout the canyon walls becomes heavy with tension. Suddenly the fox demon stands upon his pillar, quickly changing his crimson hair to silver and his emerald eyes to gold.

The fire demon likewise changes his appearance, adding the dragon's scales to his skin and allowing his crimson eyes to turn solid black with rage. He ups the ante and bellows out plumes of black smoke.

The fox sees his opponent's smoke and creates a silver plume of his own. Both pillars start to give way to the weight of their guests, crumbling with the demons' changes in form. Just as the clouds formed, they begin to dissipate and reveal the demons transformed into the very creatures they are.

The fox stands upon what remains of his cloud, on all fours, cloaked in fur, and with his four tails protruding out the back. Opposing him on a dark cloud, a black enormous dragon stands, hissing violently with fire cloaking his breath.

Crouching to attack, the fox snarls and readies his fangs, licking across them with his fleshy tongue. The dragon stares at the fox, flicking his forked tongue like a snake. Just then the dragon roars as loud as he can, waking the birds from the trees below.

With that the fox leaps from his cloud and flies straight at the dragon. The dragon darts forward, slithering quickly towards the fox's throat. He misses and is bushed by one of the bushy tails instead. Angered, the dragon fires a shot of black flames from his mouth, towards the fox's face. The fox shakes his head from the flames and strikes back towards the dragon's neck. His fangs break the scales, but the dragon jerks away from anymore damage caused by the fox.

Both opponents back off for an instance. Then the dragon shoots fireballs at the fox. The fox flies through the air quickly, trying to avoid getting burned. Down towards the tops of a few of the pine trees, the fox lands, all the while watching his enemy's moves. The dragon sees the opportunity to rain fire upon the fox. In retaliation, the fox uses the needles of the trees like darts and fires them in all directions. The dragon evades them and dashes after the fox. The fox darts back towards the air and races across the rim of the canyon. The dragon catches up to him and faces him head on. The fox backs up and shakes his fur, flicking seeds like pebbles, causing them to explode in the dragon's face. The dragon growls and lunges towards the fox with his mouth open. The fox avoids the mouth and leaps onto the dragon's back, gripping the scales with his claws. Before the dragon swings his neck towards the fox, the fox launches himself from the neck and lands on the canyon rim.

The dragon follows the movements of the fox, hurling fire after him, singing the ground everywhere the fox steps. The fox stands upon the grass, causing it to shoot out like spears towards the dragon. The dragon slithers quickly past the barbed grass and slams his body against the canyon wall, smashing the rocks holding the rim to crumble, trying to cause the fox to stumble. The fox instead leaps back onto the dragon's body and latches onto the neck with his claws. The dragon blasts around the rim, knocking into boulders, trying to shake the enemy from his neck. Swiftly, the fox leaps off the dragon and darts onto another piece of the canyon's rim.

Just as the dragon starts to race towards the fox, a violent rumble stirs the ground down in the floor of the valley. The ground quakes violently, chasing the birds away from the trees in the forest. Animals on the floor scurry away, trying to avoid the ominous danger approaching them. Ignoring the quake, the dragon continues to pursue the fox. He dashes forward, attempting to grab the fox by the neck. The fox notices him and lunges straight back towards the dragon. The dragon hurls fire at him, but is suddenly blocked by bamboo shooting out from the ground. The dragon smashes through one set, only to be met by another. Angered, the dragon incinerates the bamboo and chomps into the fox's torso. The fox yelps, trying to free himself from the dragon. He manages to jerk away, but shows the damage and pool of blood upon the ground. The fox hobbles only about a hundred feet, before collapsing to the ground. Slowly he closes his eyes and expels one breath.

The dragon sniffs at the fox, biting him to invoke retaliation. The fox remains motionless, not responding at all to the dragon's bites. The dragon still continues to approach the fox, cautiously, and presumes him for dead. Suddenly, the canyon valley rumbles again and a giant tree, covered in vines, grows rapidly and ensnares the dragon's serpentine body. He feels the vines wrap around his body, dragging him back down the slopes of the canyon. He struggles violently, only to have the vines wrap tighter around his body, preventing movement. He looks back at the fox's corpse, only to see nothing there. Then the dragon's snout twitches and suddenly he spots the fox standing above him, riding the tree into the air.

The dragon becomes enraged and wrestles against the vines, trying to free himself. The fox leaps off the one spire of vines and lands on another growing spire, away from the dragon's entrapment. The fox stares at the dragon, growling with his hackles standing on end. Suddenly the ball of vines explodes into a giant fireball. Springing out of the inferno, the dragon has transformed himself back into his demonic form.

The fire demon jets forward, with his sword drawn. The fox evades him and lands on one of the tree's trunks, transformed back into his demonic form. With his claws grasped onto the trunk, he launches darts from the bark, splintering rapidly towards his adversary. The darts follow the fire demon like heat-seeking missals, striking him at every turn. The fire demon dodges and weaves through the air, deflecting as many darts as he can with his sword. He zips towards the trunk and slices through. The fox dodges the sword's blade and lands on a branch nearby. He grasps a long twig on the branch with his hands, as he watches his opponent bolt after him. As the fire demon swings his sword to strike the fox, his sword instantly becomes blocked by a sword the fox forged from the twig.

"You really think you can stop my attack with a wooden blade?" hisses the fire demon.

"Nope," sneers the fox, as he watches his opponent swing his sword back for the finishing blow. Suddenly a creeping vine clutches the fire demon's sword arm. "But that might."

"Damn you! Wretched…fiend! I'm going to…"

"Do what? Kill me? Win this fight? Like I'd let you do that."

"So you're winning this? So how about you just end this now? Kill me. Enjoy the victory."

"And waste the life of a great opponent? Not a chance."

The fire demon snuffs looking back at the fox. "So, what now?"

"How about we call this a draw and I cut you loose?" The fox snaps his fingers and loosens the vines hold. "Besides, won't this be something to tell that son of yours?"

"Yeah, and you likewise, with your two," replies the fire demon, sheathing his sword. "So how are you going to call this one?"

"How about 'The Epic Battle of the Beasts Within'."


End file.
